Sole and method of making the same



April 19, 1949. J GREGG 2,467,821

SOLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME Filed Jan. 19, 1944 INVENTOR JONGPECJG 8 ATTORN EY Patented Apr. 19, 1949 SOLE AND METHOD OF MAKING THESAME Jon Gregg, New Hope, Pa., assignor to Lynne D. Gregg, New Hope, Pa.

Application January 19, 1944, Serial No. 518,790

14 Claims. 1

This invention relates to soles and methods of making the same, and isan improvement of the article and method disclosed in my co-pendingapplication Serial No. 401,179, filed July 5, 1941, Patent No.2,361,938, issued on November 27, 1944. It is particularly directed toan outsole for a shoe, slipper or like article of footwear.

It has been found that soles, such as described in my co-pendingabove-mentioned application, when made with reclaimed rubber or rubberof poor quality, there is insufficient penetration of the rubber intothe fibers during the molding operation. When such a sole is subjectedto rough wear the fiber strips or braid, being soft, squash down orflatten tending to tear away from the rubber and eventually causingspreading of the sole. It is therefore an object of this invention toprovide an improved method of making outsoles of the character describedwhich will prevent spreading. This object is attained by incorporatinginto the braid during the braiding operation a thread or core or strandof uncured rubber or moldable plastic material which will integrate withthe moldable strip between the braid whereby to facilitate integrationor connection of the strips wound with the braid.

A further object of this invention is to provide an improved outsole ofthe character described constructed to prevent spreading byincorporation into the braid of a metallic wire or filament passingthrough the braid.

Another object of this invention is to provide a sole of the characterdescribed which will withstand a great deal of wear and hold its shape.

Another object of this invention is to provide an improved method formaking an outsole of the character described in which integrating of themoldable material during the molding operation is facilitated.

Yet another object of this invention is to provide a strong, rugged anddurable outsole of the character described which shall be relativelyinexpensive to manufacture and which shall yet be practical andeflicient to a high degree in use.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in parthereinafter pointed out.

The invention accordingly consists in the combination of steps, featuresof construction, combinations of elements, and arrangement of partswhich will be exemplified in the apparatus and method hereinafterdescribed, and of which the scope of application will be indicated inthe following claims.

In the accompanying drawings, in which is shown one of the variouspossible illustrative embodiments of this invention,

Fig. 1 is a side view of a piece of braid with which the improved soleembodying the invention is made, and showing the strands, the cores, andthe strip of moldable material opened up for the purpose ofillustration;

Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 2-2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of a sole made in accordance with the presentinvention;

Fig. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 4-4 of Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. l but illustrating a modifiedconstruction;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5 but illustrating a further modifiedform of the invention;

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 6 and illustrating still anothermodified form of the invention; and

Fig. 8 is a cross-sectional view taken on line 8-8 of Fig. 7.

Referring now in detail to the drawing, l0 designates a sole embodyingthe invention. The sole is made by winding into the general shape of anoutsole, a braided strip ll shown in Fig. 1, to one side of which hasbeen attached a strip if! of uncured rubber or moldable plastic materialsuch as Vinylite, acetate, ethyl cellulose or any other suitable plasticmaterial.

The braid ll may be made from strands of cotton, jute, istle, flax,sisal or manila. The braid l I may be made as shown in Fig. l for thepurpose of illustration, of 3-ply, 3-carrier braid, braided aboutparallel cores I6. Thus Fig. 1 shows a 3-carrier, 3-ply construction asthere are three strands l5 coming off each spool, and there are threespools or carriers during the braiding operation, as is well known inthe art.

The braid I l although shown for the purpose of illustration as a3-carrier, 3-ply braid may of course, be of any other suitableconstruction.

The cores [6 are preferably made of uncured rubber or plastic material.

Extending through one or both of the cores H5 or encased therein, may bea thin flexible filament or wire such as steel, magnesium alloy, copperor any other suitable metal. Furthermore, filament, thread or wire l8may be twisted with, or lie alongside a thread or core of uncured rubberor moldable plastic material. Filament I 8 may also be a thread ofcotton, jute, manila, vegetable fiber'or any other suitable material.The strip l2 may be narrower than the braid, and the edges lZa thereofare preferably spaced from the upper and lower edges l'la of the braid.The strip l'2 may be extruded and rolled between rollers together withthe braid H. The strip I2 is in tacky condition as it comes from theextruder and is pressed against one side of the braid I i and sticksthereto.

The braid II is made using uncured rubber or moldable plastic coresduring the braiding operation. The braid together with the strip l2stuck thereto is wound into the general shape of an outsole in the usualmanner, and the wound outsole is then placed in a mold and molded underheat and pressure. The uncured or plastic cores I6 will flow through thestrands l5 and the strip I2 will also flow causing an integration.Furthermore, the cores and strip [2 during the molding operation willflow into the fibers of the strands to produce a sole of definite shapeand size.

Wires [8 further strengthen the sole and prevent the braids fromsplitting apart even with extremely rough wear.

In Fig. 5 there is shown a braid 26 similar to braid II but in which onestrand l5a coming off each carrier is made of uncured rubber or moldableplastic material. In the braid 2B the cores lGa may be either of thesame material as the strands IE or they may also be of uncured rubber orplastic material, and if desired they may be provided with wires I3.Strands l5a will contact the strip l2 and cause a good integrationduring the molding operation.

In Fig. 6 there is shown a braid 3B in which all of the strands I52)coming off one carrier are made of uncured rubber or plastic material.Otherwise the braid is the same as in Fig. 5. Here also the strands I5bcontact the strip 12 and are molded thereto during the moldingoperation. In braid 39 likewise cores [5 of uncured rubber or plasticmaterial may encase, be twisted with or run alongside of a filament,thread or wire of fiber or metal. The wire or filament can be omitted ifdesired.

In Fig. 7 there is shown a braid llb entirely covered by a sheath 40 ofuncured rubber or plastic material and said sheath takes the place ofstrip l2. The sheath 40 could be applied to the braid llb by dippingsaid braid through a bath of the uncured rubber or plastic material.Here likewise the coated braid is wound into the general shape of anoutsole and then molded under heat and pressure to form an outsole. Thecores of braid llb may also be of uncured rubber or plastic material andmay have threads or wires therein, or twisted therewith or runningalongside. In Fig. 7 the filament I8 is shown alongside the core l6.

Instead of employing flat braid such as braid II, III), 20 or 30,regular coiled rope or sash cord or clothes line made of either twistedor braided strands of vegetable fiber may be used. Such rope or cordshould have an element or strand of moldable or vulcanizable materialeither in the form of one or more cores, or the moldable element may beone of the twisted or braided yarns, the dominant feature of theinvention being the incorporation into an elongated member of vegetablefiber, an element of moldable or vulcanizable material. The rope or cordmay have both a core as well as a cover yarn of rubber, plastic or othermoldable or vulcanizable material which will set upon applying pressureand heat and the proper curing compounds. The rope or cord will alsohave strips of moldable material wound therewith before the moldingoperation, which will fuse with the moldable filament or strand therein,during the molding operation to prevent spreading open of the sole whengiven rough wear.

The strips I2 as well as the cores It or yarns I50. or I5b or the sheath40 may be made of moldable material in which is incorporated strands orthreads, preferably of lengths from about A to 4". One way of obtainingsuch material is by grinding carcasses of tires and then mixing withrubber, either reclaimed or new or plastic material together withvulcanizing compounds. The fiber content of this material givesadditional strength. Thus the vulcanizable material with the threads init is of enhanced strength. Of course, any suitable threads may be addedto either new or reclaimed rubber or plastic material in order to mixthe threads with the vul canizable material.

It will thus be seen that there is provided an article and method inwhich the several objects of this invention are achieved, and which iswell adapted to meet the conditions of practical use.

As various possible embodiments might be made of the above invention,and as various changes might be made in the embodiment above set forth,it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in theaccompanying drawing is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in alimiting sense.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secureby Letters Patent:

1. An outsole made of wound braid comprising strands of fibrousmaterial, one or more cover strands of molded material, and one or morecores of molded material.

2. An outsole made of wound braid comprising strands of fibrousmaterial, one or more strands of molded material, and molded materialbetween the windings of the outsole,

3. An outsole made of wound braid comprising strands of fibrousmaterial, one or more cover strands of molded material, said braidhaving one or more cores of molded material, and molded material betweenthe windings of the outsole.

4. An outsole made of wound braid, said braid comprising cover yarnbraided around cores, and including cover yarn of moldable material andcover yarn of textile thread, adjacent windings of said braid beingfused together by said moldable material.

5. An outsole made of wound braid, said braid comprising cover elementsbraided around core elements, at least one of the cover elementscomprising molded material, at least one of said core elementscomprising molded material.

6. An outsole made of wound braid, said braid comprising cover elementsbraided around core elemenm, at least one of the cover elementscomprising molded material, at least one of said core elementscomprising molded material, one of said elements of molded materialhaving a flexible, substantially unstretchable filament embeddedtherein.

7. A sole made of contiguous braided strip portions having a core, andcover yarn of molded material, and cover yarn of fibrous thread, themoldable cover yarn of adjacent strip portions being fused.

8. An article made of contiguous strip portions having strands ofmoldable material, and fibrous strands, the moldable strands of adjacentstrip portions being fused together to unite said strip portions.

9. A sole comprising a wound braided strip, said strip comprising acore, and cover yarn of thermoset material and cover yarn of fibrousthread, the thermoset yarn in adjacent windings of the braided stripbeing fused together and penetrating the fibrous threads to unite thewindings.

10. A sole comprising a wound braided strip, said strip comprising coveryarn of thermoset material and cover yarn of fibrous thread, thethermoset yarn in adjacent windings of the braided strip being fusedtogether and penetrating the fibrous threads to unite the windings, saidbraided strip having core yarns of textile thread about which the coveryarns are braided.

11. A sole made of a wound strip of textile material, the thickness ofthe sole being equivalent to the width of said strip, said stripcomprising fibrous yarn and thermoset yarn, the thermoset yarn inadjacent winding-s of the strip being fused together and penetrating thefibrous yarn to unite the windings.

12. A sole made of a wound strip of textile material, the thickness ofthe sole being equivalent to the width of said strip, said stripcomprising fibrous yarn and thermoset yarn, the thermoset yarn inadjacent windings of the strip being fused together and penetrating thefibrous yarn to unite the windings, the thermoset yarn having a core offibrous thread.

13. An article of manufacture, comprising a braided strip wound in asingle plane, said strip comprising cover yarn of thermosetting materialand cover yarn of fibrous thread, the thermoset yarn in adjacentwindings of the braided strip being fused together and penetrating thefibrous threads to unite said windings, said braided strip having coresabout which the cover yarns are braided.

M. An article of manufacture, comprising a strip of textile materialwound in a single plane, the thickness of said article being equivalentto the width of said strip, said strip comprising fibrous yarn andthermoset yarn, the thermoset yarn in adjacent strips being fusedtogether and penetrating the fibrous threads to unite the windings.

JON GREGG.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 546,932 Mayer Sept. 24, 18951,087,220 De La Torriente Feb. 1'7, 1914 1,205,345 Hatfield Nov. 21,1916 1,236,244 Yzagvirre et a1. Aug. 7, 1917 2,307,401 Gregg v Jan. 5,1943 2,315,759 Wilpan Apr. 6, 1943 2,361,938 Gregg Nov. '7, 1944 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 807,678 France Oct. 19, 1936 814,061 FranceMar. 8, 1937

